


Who listens

by Canadiantardis



Series: Whumptober 2020 [3]
Category: Sanders Sides (Web Series)
Genre: (In my head it was Patton but the description of the date is ambiguous enough), Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Ambiguous Relationships, Hero Anxiety | Virgil Sanders, Hostage Situations, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Kinda sorta the police are shoot first dont ask questions later tbh, M/M, Minor Violence, One Shot, Police Brutality, Roman is a lot like Remus in personality in this one, Roman just wants someone to talk to, Villain Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-03
Updated: 2020-10-03
Packaged: 2021-03-06 14:27:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26430364
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Canadiantardis/pseuds/Canadiantardis
Summary: Virgil was preparing for a date with that really cute journalist that would happen in a few hours when he got the call. He almost screamed in frustration, having hoped the city would manage to go 24 hours without needing him to save it again, but apparently, Virgil wasn’t allowed to have nice things. He had been panicking over what to wear, and now he had to worry about making it on time because of something trying to…
Relationships: Anxiety | Virgil Sanders & Creativity | Roman "Princey" Sanders
Series: Whumptober 2020 [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1920886
Comments: 9
Kudos: 49





	Who listens

**Author's Note:**

> Day 3: Forced to their knees  
> This fic went in several directions while writing but I'm pretty happy with the end results.

Virgil was preparing for a date with that really cute journalist that would happen in a few hours when he got the call. He almost screamed in frustration, having hoped the city would manage to go 24 hours without needing him to save it _again,_ but apparently, Virgil wasn’t allowed to have nice things. He had been panicking over what to wear, and now he had to worry about making it on time because of something trying to…

He snatched his phone off the bed and glanced at the message. It wasn’t his actual phone, he wasn’t stupid enough to link anything personal onto his Work phone, except his Alias name and all that fake personal info that phone companies needed on not-burner phones.

> _[The Crimson Knight is holding up the Sasi National Bank. At least 2 casualties, 0 hostage casualties. Several hostages. Police standstill.]_

He almost wanted to ignore it. Let the Knight get away with something for once, it wasn’t like it was all that uncommon. Virgil wasn’t available to fight supervillains every single minute of every single hour of the day. He had a life of his own, and he needed to sleep. He wasn’t sure if the Knight slept too or if he was just an insomniac considering some of the 2am robberies Virgil could list offhand.

But then his nerves got the better of him. If he didn’t go, innocent civilians could be hurt. He didn’t really care about the police. They knew what they were signing up for when they joined the force, and the city wasn’t like a perfect utopia where everyone was safe and there was no crime ever. _What if the Knight killed the hostages? What if he were waiting for him, and if he didn’t show up, the Knight would continue to do worse and worse things until Virgil was forced to confront him?_

With a frustrated huff, Virgil grabbed his suit and almost angrily shoved himself into the outfit, the tough-to-tear spandex leaving very little to the imagination. In the early years of his alias job, the suit had been too embarrassing and he’d try to wear pants or shorts over them, but while the suit was tough enough to withstand the multiple fights and battles, the shorts could not and he mourned the loss of so many comfortable pants. He had to be able to move on a dime, so he eventually got used to running around in the spandex only.

He slapped on his mask and pulled up the hood part of the spandex and headed out the window, invisible.

He ran the rest of the way to the bank, still invisible, slowly getting a picture for the magnitude. Police lights flashed obnoxiously around the entrance of the bank, with the doors to the building blocked with the glowing red transparent constructs the Crimson Knight was known to create. They looked almost cartoony, like large steel doors found in some kid’s show with oversized bolts that seemed more for decoration than of any use, especially when it was a construct.

A small group of police officers stood around behind one of the larger vehicles, talking amongst themselves. Virgil debated even walking over to them before deciding against it. They were likely just griping about being here in the first place, waiting for him and complaining.

He sighed and made his way to the bank entrance, looking for a way in without announcing his arrival for everyone. He wasn’t a showy hero like the comic books. This was a job, not a fun little hobby he enjoyed.

There was a small human-sized gap between the construct and the door. Virgil could easily squeeze through without raising an alarm, and he could take stock of the inside situation. He quickly sucked in a breath and shimmied his way to the door and pushed through, slipping in with only a couple quiet noises.

He took note of the interior. The Sasi National Bank was an upper class bank, fancy and old, one of the first banks created when the city had been made in the 1800s, some two centuries ago.

There were a couple handfuls of people sitting down, and a couple of children among them. It was fairly tense but not too bad. Virgil knew if the children were calm then things weren’t dangerous. The Knight wasn’t a total nutjob, he had his own morals which Virgil could appreciate, even if they were very skewed. The hostages would be safe from harm because the Knight never, ever, harmed kids.

Looking around for said villain, Virgil found the masked man casually leaning against a table in the middle of the open area, his constructs around him more opaque and reminiscent of accurate battle armour from the medieval ages, or at least that was what Virgil’s best friend Logan had once said when the Crimson Knight had been getting news coverage. He didn’t wear a helmet, however, only a mask similar to Virgil’s. They likely ordered it from the same store.

He was talking with a hostage, a young man with sunglasses hiding part of his face, though Virgil could see the tightness of his jaw. He didn’t seem frightened, more perturbed that the villain was striking up what looked like a casual conversation.

Virgil sighed, and dropped his invisibility. One of the children gasped when they noticed him suddenly there, and grabbed at the nearest adult’s arm and pointed silently.

“If you were feeling lonely, I could have given you some pamphlets on places to go rather than hold up an entire bank, you know,” he remarked, and the Knight whipped around to face him, looking both surprised and elated.

“Stormcloud, you made it! I was beginning to think you didn’t like me,” the Knight pouted, turning his complete attention away from the sunglasses guy, who slumped his shoulders in relief. “I was just talking to Remy here about how fun our little dances are. You remember yesterday’s fling?”

“That’s great, Red,” Virgil shook his head. “But you see, I have another life that’s outside of hero work, and this is really conflicting with it.”

“Ah, sorry about that,” at least he sounded apologetic. He was a strange case, very sincere and had decent morals, but all in a twisted shape. Virgil wondered if the dude had ever tried therapy for his issues, but guessed he hadn’t if he was completely fine with hurting people for entertainment. “But this was _super important.”_

Virgil put a hand on his hip, looking done with the villain. “Yeah? What.”

“I’m bored.”

“So you decided to hold an entire bank hostage because you were bored?” Just when Virgil thought he understood the Crimson Knight, he was thrown a curveball and blindsided by his unpredictability. “Red, really, you need a better use of your time.”

“Yes, yes, but I also just wanted to talk to you. You’re the only super that listens to me! Everyone else tries shooting me.” There was a hard glare cast to the entrance of the bank behind Virgil, who he guessed the Knight was glaring at the police outside.

“Have you ever tried seeing a specialist? You know, therapy?” Virgil questioned.

The Knight laughed. “Can’t without revealing who I am now. I’d get locked up before I could schedule my next appointment! Besides, it doesn’t work.”

“Killing people also doesn’t work in whatever’s wrong here, Red,” Virgil walked forward. This was probably the best time to get close to the villain and subdue him without hurting anyone or anything. The man needed help and this was the first time since the two had met that neither were willing to fight - Virgil was very rarely willing to fight, so it said something that the Knight didn’t want to either - but rather talk like adults. “I’m not the right person to talk about this stuff to, but… maybe I can help you find the right help?”

The Knight laughed again, though it was more… brittle. Maybe Virgil was really getting to him. “You sound like my brother, Stormcloud.”

Just that sentence alone spoke volumes to Virgil. The Knight never spoke of his civilian life, and for a while Virgil wondered if he had ever had one to begin with, yet now he learned he had a brother, and his brother was also worried for his mental health. That was good to know.

“Well, maybe we’re right. I can…” He sighed, shaking his head and sent a silent prayer that he could message that date about him being late or missing it entirely. “I can try to help you. You’re clearly not a bad guy, Red. You have someone else who cares about you too if your brother still thinks that way.”

“Yeah! Mr. Stormy can help you, Mr. Knight! He’s a hero!” A child spoke up, followed by the harried shushing of their parent

Then, the Crimson Knight did something Virgil and anyone else in the bank had never seen before; his knightly armour vanished, revealing the civilian clothes underneath. A simple red and white baseball t-shirt and faded navy jeans with converse. With only the mask covering part of his face still, he looked rather normal.

“Yeah… maybe…” He murmured, and without the armour, he seemed to draw into himself a bit more, like his costume had been doing a lot more than just protect his body.

Virgil let out a relieved breath, believing the worst was behind him, when the entire bank shook with the force of the doors slamming open. He whirled around, alarmed, to see the police had entered en-masse, guns up, protective gear haphazardly put on, and several held riot shields at the ready.

“Get down!” An officer shout-ordered, and all the guns were pointed straight at the Knight before Virgil stepped in the line of fire, raising his arms. “Move aside, Stormcloud.”

“Drop your weapons first,” Virgil ordered back. “I had things under control.”

He wasn’t sure what happened next, but someone had made the wrong move, and the next thing Virgil knew, he heard a wordless shout, a child’s scream, and a gunshot that all echoed in the large area. Virgil fell to the floor and vanished within a second and tried to make sense of what happened, but then he paled as he saw the Knight lurching backwards, grabbing his shoulder before it was covered by his knightly outfit.

“Damnit, damnit, damnit.” Virgil cursed under his breath as he tried to figure out what to do but found himself frozen in place.

No, not frozen, he realized when he managed to get his arms under him and pushed up. Something was pinning his lower half to the ground, despite him having gone invisible. Rather than continue to fight it using his powers, he reappeared, pushing against whatever the Knight had flung onto him.

Screams brought him outside of his own situation to see the police shooting at the Knight, who had a blank expression, and having fought him for a while, Virgil knew that was a dangerous expression to see on the usually expressive villain.

“Red!” He called out, wishing for once he had something to throw or had a ranged power. “Stop! You don’t want to do this!”

The Knight turned his head to look at him and a smile that did not fit his face appeared. “But they never _LISTEN!”_ He screamed the last word as several sword-shaped constructs appeared around him, and in one movement, all thrust forward towards the police.

“NO!”

The police attempted to hold back the constructs, but it was useless, and painfully quickly, they all dropped like flies. The Crimson Knight stood over them all, his chest heaving, as he waved his swords away when he was sure there wasn’t any more opposition from the police officers. Then his head snapped to Virgil, who continued to struggle to get out from under the construct holding him down.

_“You.”_ If Virgil had been a little newer to the job, he would have been terrified out of his wits at the way the Knight stared at him from behind the mask. “You did this. You tried to trick me.”

“What, no!” He shook his head as he felt the construct disappear, but couldn’t do anything before the Knight was at him, grabbing him by the neck.

“You’re _just_ like everyone else! Trying to kill me rather than listen!” The Knight squeezed Virgil’s windpipe, and he struggled to get loose, shaking his head violently.

“I’m not…!” He gasped. “Red… Stop!”

_“You_ stop, liar!!” The Knight screamed back, and wow that was almost concussive. “Liar! Just like everyone else!! No one listens to me!!”

“I’ll listen, I promise!” Virgil was beginning to truly panic. He had never seen the Knight like this, and he was beginning to see spots at the edge of his vision from the lack of oxygen.

The Knight bared his teeth in a snarl, but the next moment, Virgil could breathe. He doubled over and coughed as he got air back into his lungs, shaking a little in adrenaline and the remnants of panic.

“Then listen to me and kneel.”

Virgil snapped his head up to the villain, incredulous, but the dark expression on his face was new. He cursed the police for fucking the entire thing up. “What?”

“KNEEL!” The Knight’s voice boomed throughout the bank as several sword constructs appeared high in the air, pointing down to the hostages as they cried out in fear. “Kneel or they die!”

Virgil slowly put his hands up as he went down onto his knees, looking up at the Knight’s face to show he wasn’t about to try anything. “Okay, okay, I’m kneeling. I’m listening, Red, always have been.”

“Liar,” the Knight shook his head as if he were ridding a nasty thought.

“I haven’t lied to you once since we’ve met, unless it was stuff about my personal life,” Virgil retorted, still on his knees, still holding his hands in the air in surrender. “You don’t want to do this, Red. You never hurt kids. You’re not an evil villain.”

“Shut up.”

“I wasn’t lying when I said I would help you find proper help, Red,” Virgil pressed, seeing the cracks in his guard and just trying to inch it open. “Think about your brother. What happened to him?”

“I… I don’t…” The Knight grabbed the sides of his head and shook, fighting with himself. “He hates me now, I know it.”

“No, you don’t. If I sound like him when I say you need help, I don’t think he ever hated you, Red.” Virgil took a deep breath. “Let me help you.”

The Crimson Knight screamed, clutching his head, and the constructs _shattered_ from above, transparent red shards falling like strange snowflakes.

Virgil, at the same time, did something _very_ stupid. He leapt to his feet and pulled the Knight to him, doing his best to give a full-body hug despite being much thinner and shorter than the Knight. It didn’t help with the armour making it very uncomfortable, but Virgil was committing to this and just _prayed_ that it would work.

* * *

Virgil was beyond thankful the journalist was understanding as well as cute. He had been disappointed that Virgil had to cancel so last minute but at the mention of an emergency that came up, he simply said they would have to reschedule. If they had been standing face to face, Virgil would have kissed him then and there. He hadn’t been on a lot of dates where the other had been so understanding, even about real civilian emergencies and not hero work that became overtime.

Getting the Crimson Knight out of the bank was fairly easy with Virgil’s power of invisibility. It took a lot of effort, but managing to make the Knight invisible without blacking out from the strain was what he considered Fate’s way of apologizing for the police. The hostages would be okay and could leave, so Virgil didn’t have to stay to make sure they were all okay. He hoped the kids that had been there would be okay in the long-term.

He and the Knight made their way to a park several blocks away, hiding themselves in the shade of a thick bunching of trees, before he dropped the invisibility and sat down, glad that the Knight did the same without being told. He made the call to his date after he noticed it was in an hour and he highly doubted he’d be able to figure everything out with the Knight before that hour was up.

Only when he finished his phone call did the Knight speak, his voice subdued, “What do we do now?”

“Now?” Virgil ran a hand through his hair, letting the hood fall back for the moment. “Find a specialist who could actually help you, but,” he sighed wearily, “I don’t… I don’t even know where to start.”

“Are there… Are there powered therapists? Or non-powered who know how to work with…” The Knight trailed off, looking to be unable to find the right word and Virgil not knowing what he was looking for to help.

However, as he thought over the question, a name came to mind and Virgil straightened up. “I think I know who you could see.”

“W-who?” This new side of the Knight was strange, and Virgil was very surprised it was the same person he had normally fought for almost a year straight.

“He’s… I think I heard him through a grapevine. I don’t know if he’s powered or not, but powered people have given high praise for his work. I think his name was… Pick…piccollo? Picoly?” He made a noise of frustration over not remembering the name correctly. “Pic-something. Good therapist, steel trap of a mouth, apparently. Won’t tell anyone anything about his patients, even under the threat of violence. Bit unusual too, though I’m not sure how.”

The Knight looked at him with an unsure expression.

“Red, I think he’d be a good fit for you. I can help you get an appointment and… I don’t know, go with you for them?” The Knight looked guarded instantly and Virgil backtracked. “Not like go _into_ the sessions with you, just go with you to the building and wait for you or something if you need it, y’know?”

He relaxed and nodded slowly. “Thank you, Stormcloud. I… No one’s wanted to listen to me since… since my brother moved out of the city. He doesn’t have a phone because he’s a weirdo so I don’t get to talk to him often and he’s so busy and I just…” He heaved a sigh. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”

“I’m sure this therapist will help. It’s better than going to jail or facing the death penalty or something.”

**Author's Note:**

> This story is part of the [ LLF Comment Project](https://longlivefeedback.tumblr.com/llfcommentproject), which was created to improve communication between readers and authors. This author invites and appreciates feedback, including:  
> Feedback
> 
>   * Short comments
>   * Long comments
>   * Questions
>   * “<3” as extra kudos
>   * Reader-reader interaction
> 

> 
> This author replies to comments.


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